1. Field of the Invention
Methods and systems consistent with the present invention relate to a single-sign-on method for a wired/wireless hybrid environment and a system using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile information services are carried out by mobile operators, contents providers, billing agencies, and service providers. However, in actuality, it is very difficult to distinguish those services and a single communication company, e.g., SK Telecom in Korea, may operate as a mobile operator, a service provider, and a contents provider at the same time.
A mobile device enables the use of a web service regardless of locations of a user and a web service provider. When adapting systems from a wired Internet environment to a mobile environment, it is preferable that development of a framework is extended to include issues such as performance, cost, and temporary usage failure. However, performance limitations of the mobile device hinder the efforts for adapting web services such as a single-sign-on method to a wired/wireless hybrid environment. When a web service environment is adapted to the wired/wireless hybrid environment, an access method should be considered as follows. In order for the user to access a specific service among a great number of services provided in a distributed environment of the web service, a consistent and singular access method should be provided. In the wired Internet environment, a single-sign-on mechanism is being studied to provide a consistent and singular access method.
The single-sign-on method is more important in the wired/wireless hybrid environment than in the wired Internet environment due to the performance limitations of mobile devices. For example, when a user authenticated by one site moves to another site, inputting a user name and a password through a keyboard is much easier than inputting them through a cell phone. In this manner, realization of the single-sign-on method in the wired/wireless hybrid environment is very important in the growing wireless Internet market. Wireless Internet internetworking contents are disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 2003-0040601. Authentication, usage right authorization, and billing are mainly disclosed with respect to mobile communication companies, but compatibility issues with other single-sign-on systems are not addressed in this publication. Accordingly, a single-sign-on method compatible with different systems in the wired/wireless hybrid environment is needed.